Pages

Thursday, 30 June 2016

Policeman beaten to coma by mob in Nsukka, Enugu State dies

A policeman who was beaten to coma by a mob in the Nsukka area of Enugu State on Tuesday has been confirmed dead.

Spokesman, Enugu State Police Command, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu, disclosed this in a statement.

But he did not disclose the identity of the policeman, who accidentally shot, and killed a motorcyclist, before the mob descended on him.

The police spokesman identified the motorcyclist was one Festus Onah.

Amaraizu said the incident that led to the policeman’s death is being investigated.

However, he said preliminary findings revealed that “the problem came up as a result of the resistance of the occupiers of the building material site, who allegedly and violently resisted government relocation order and started stoning heavily on the officials” of a taskforce which was set up to move traders to the permanent site of the building material market.

The policeman was part of the Nsukka Building Material Taskforce, which was set up to regulate the building materials business in the town.

The taskforce was mandated to compel traders to move to the permanent site of the building material market.

Members of the taskforce, including the unnamed policeman, were mobbed by an angry crowd while trying to force a popular cement dealer at the beach junction area of the town to pay a fine for not moving his business to the permanent site of the building material market.

In a bid to disperse the crowd, which took sides with the cement dealer, the policemen in the taskforce started shooting into the air.

However, the policeman mistakenly shot a motorcyclist, who was passing through the scene of the altercation.

The unfortunate motorcyclist died on the spot.

The crowd thereafter descended on the policeman, who went into a coma before he was rescued by his colleagues.

The policemen also evacuated the corpse of the motorcyclist.

It was gathered that the corpse was deposited in an undisclosed mortuary.